Pay-to-play Rule Unfair, League Says

Organizers Want County To Look At Other Options

UNION PARK — The Union Park Little League may get a break on a county fee to use the Lake Downey ball fields.

A meeting last week with league representatives and Orange County officials resulted in a plan to review alternatives and present the best one to county commissioners for their decision.

The county's pay-to-play policy adopted last year means league parents will have to pay another $15 per child in addition to the $25 registration fee they already pay. Money from the fee would offset the estimated $40,000 annual maintenance costs for the playing fields off Dean Road and Colonial Drive.

Orange County Commissioner Bill Donegan, whose district includes Union Park, said he would like to find a way to keep from charging fees for children's programs. He voted against the user fee proposal last year and now has the support of Commissioner Vera Carter.

''When you start charging children to play in the Little League, I will always be against it,'' he said.

The league would like the county to drop the fee. Other alternatives suggested by the league are to split the maintenance between the county and the league and reduce the fee or give the fields to the Union Park Little League.

League vice president John Quirello said it's unlikely the field will be given to the league, but he's optimistic the county will soften its position.

''They didn't have to meet with us. This was a done deal,'' he said of the user fee.

Quirello said the county expected to receive about $10,000 from the fee, but he said a more realistic figure is $8,000. He said the league also may move some of its games to planned fields at Union Park Elementary School, which would cut the fee money even more.

One of the alternatives will be presented to county commissioners in early January.

League officials have said the higher fee would mean fewer parents will pay and the league will still have to come up with the money to pay the county and provide insurance, uniforms and equipment.

Union Park's Little League is one of the biggest in the county with about 800 players. The league has a policy that allows children to play regardless of their ability to pay.

At a registration Saturday, about 40 parents signed up their children - about half the number who signed up last year at this time, past president Tom Magorrian said.

The league also is the only one affected so far by the county policy. Two other leagues play on county property, but they maintain the ball fields themselves.

What particularly hurts about the county's policy is that volunteers did much of the initial work to get the playing fields in shape, said Lou Emery, district league director.

Volunteers spent hundreds of hours fixing the field and have volunteered to continue maintaining it. Parks department manager Lynn Sordel said the volunteers cannot maintain it to county standards.

Magorrian said the league will take its complaint to the County Commission as soon as possible.